Missee Lee

"Don't be a tame galoot!"<br /><br />Down to the 10th book. The old gang is back to another adventure but it seemed more serious than the ones before, and lacking bit of that fun and easy going nature. Though the story is full of adventure, it seems a bit out of the usual style of the series.<br /><br />"Oh, Giminy, giminy, I wish I could see out."

The very last book for us in this series. We left the two sort of more "fictional" books until last: Peter Duck and Missee Lee. We are both very sad to say goodbye to the Swallows and the Amazons, who have been our friends in the car (audio books) for 15 months now, as we have listened to each 10-12 CD book. But the fact that this was our least favorite helps make the goodbye a little less painful. Logan said the books with more realistic scenarios were more believable and so more fun. He could imagine himself there. But not so much with this book. Also, I didn't like the stereotyping of the Chinese. I wish Ransome had stuck with adventures closer to home. I'm sure at some point, we'll go back and listen to our favorite books in the series, but for now we will be moving on to other authors. Thanks Mr. Ransome! It's been a fun year+ with you!

What nonsense this book should be retired as one poor reviewer has concluded! I have been an avid Swallows and Amazons fan all my life and I am 50 now. So has all my family, right back to my mother and her sisters getting their copies as presents when first they were written. I first read Missee Lee 39 years ago and of all the series it has stuck with me. It's a departure like Peter Duck but to me I like to think it comes from the depths of Titty's imagination. A fabulous tale with the characters beautifully coming to life in this strange setting to them. My favourite will always be Winter Holiday and the magical race to the North Pole, but I pick up Missee Lee most often, as I have done this holiday in Mauritius and looked out from my sun bed to sea and imaged the Wild Cat just over the horizon. Brilliant Ransome.

Sadly, this is the one Swallows and Amazons that is too dated to be read with any pleasure today. Dated in its racism and cliched views of Asia. The story is constructed with Ransome's usual expertise and our heroes' capture by and escape from pirates is well told. Ransome brings his nautical knowledge to bear expertly in the parts of the tale that take place at sea. But the rest of it is rendered unbearable by its portrayal of the Chinese. <br /><br />The book should be retired from the series.

Another riveting adventure with the Swallows and Amazons (and Captain Flint) as they stumble across three Chinese islands after their ship sinks. There they meet "Missee" Lee and the other two leaders: Chang and Wu. Highly entertaining as you follow John, Susan, Titty, Roger, Nancy, Peggy, and Captain Flint as they stumble upon this strange world. Miss Lee, their new ally, although good at heart wants to keep them so they can learn Latin to remind her of her school days in Cambridge.<br /><br />But through a Dragon feast and other wild adventures the Swallows and Amazons are adamant that they will return home. An entertaining read for youth, but teens and adults will also enjoy it.

I've put off reading this book (and Peter Duck) for many years; the fantasy of battling pirates on the South China Sea was never as compelling to me as the fantasy of lazy summer holidays in the Lake District. Now I've finally read it, it's both better and worse than I expected. The sharp characterisation of middle-class British children of the 1930s is as good as ever - especially Roger's inability to shut up for more than five minutes - and the ending was unexpected and satisfying; but, on the negative side, the terrible faux-pidgin English that all the Chinese characters speak is the worst example of the <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AsianSpeekeeEngrish" rel="nofollow noopener">Speekee Engrish trope</a> I've ever seen, and even extends to the book's title. I suppose that it at least makes you notice how little racism Ransome really included in the other books in the series, especially at a time when contemporaneous writers such as Enid Blyton apparently couldn't help but fill their stories with xenophobia.

The Swallows, Amazons, and Captain Flint are off on a worldwide sailing adventure when an accident off the coast of China leads to an encounter with a very unusual pirate. Impulsive behavior by Gibber the monkey and Roger Walker is both believable and very handy as a plot device. While all the books in this series are of their time with comments about “natives”, this particular book often made uncomfortable reading due to outdated stereotypes about Chinese culture which distracted from an otherwise creative story. 2.5 stars

Interesting, not my favorite, but once you get to a certain part, you do get into it.

Not my favorite Swallows book but I just adore the characters and their personalities

This is by far the most problematic of the Swallows and Amazon's stories I have read to date. But also, one of the best adventures. <br /><br />It is another fantastical tale like Peter Duck which could easily be the imaginings of Titty or Dorothea. Chinese pirates, Latin grammer and a daring dragon filled escape. The plot is brilliant. As is the scene setting. And female characterisation and leading roles are there as ever. This is a really vivid tale. So good right? <br /><br />But this book is very much set in an era. And this era has horrendous stereotyping of Asian characters, apparently. There were comments about food, smells, facial expressions whixb made me cringe. But the fake Chinese accent throughout had me just about ready to not finish. But I did. And I'm glad I did.<br /><br />We cannot judge books from the past with our modern standards. Even if they do make us cringe now. That said, if I was reading this one to a child, I'd definitely have conversations about why this isn't ok, and probably edit some of the text in my telling!